Obama underwater in new poll

3/18/13 4:40 PM EDT

President Obama's approval rating has fallen 8 points and his disapproval rating jumped 7 points since the beginning of the year, leaving him underwater, according to a new CNN/ORC International poll.

Some 47 percent of respondents approve of the job he's doing, while 50 percent disapprove, the poll found.

"Americans still respond positively to the president's personal characteristics - it's his stands on the issues that they disagree with," polling director Keating Holland told CNN. "Fewer than a third approve of how the president is handling the government's budget and fiscal policies, and the White House's 'charm offensive' has not registered with the American public."

.The results are in line with several other recent polls that show the president's electoral honeymoon is all but over.

Gallup earlier this month found his three-day approval rating tumbling to its lowest level since reelection. A McClatchy Marist poll last week found his approval rating at 45 percent among registered voters, the lowest level since 2011. Quinnipiac came up with the same result earlier this month -- 45 percent -- compared with 53 percent after reelection.

White House press secretary Jay Carney has said people shouldn't pay attention to the "series of polls" and pointed out that a recent Washington Post poll found his approval rating at 50 percent. Although the Post poll last week also found that has dropped 5 points since he took the oath of office in January.